Ambassadors of P.A.I.N.

Plastic in the Arts Isn't Normal
SPIN OFF, 2018

Launched by the spontaneously-created first batch of Ambassadors of P.A.I.N.
Supported by SPIN

©Daria Gatti

P.A.I.N. ~ Plastic in the Arts Isn't Normal

P.A.I.N. is a campaign to de-normalise the use of "disposable" plastic in the arts - and to normalise avoiding its use.

"Disposable" plastic is used briefly - as plastic bottles, plates, packaging - then discarded to float in the world for centuries. As it breaks up it floats into the sea, water and air - and into many living species, including us. The global situation is now critical. But of the many complex challenges humans face, this is one of the simplest to resolve - solutions do exist, ready to be embraced. "Disposable" plastic is actually avoidable plastic.

Why the arts?

Avoidable plastics are normalised throughout society. P.A.I.N. is driven by people who work in the arts and want to clean up plastic use in their field. If the arts are championed as ‘factories of possibility’, where alternatives can be imagined – it makes no sense that avoidable plastics are still normal there.

How will it happen?

P.A.I.N. is an ever expanding network of individual arts professionals who we call Ambassadors of P.A.I.N. (this could be you!). Ambassadors of P.A.I.N. work with a simple, collective toolkit of demands and solutions that make changes and spread awareness wherever P.A.I.N.ful situations are encountered.

P.A.I.N. also offers these tools to institutions and organisations who know P.A.I.N. and feel the need for change.

Want to join? Go to the P.A.I.N. website: paininthearts.info

~

Ambassadors of P.A.I.N.

Plastic in the Arts Isn't Normal

Are you working in the arts as an artist, producer, educator, technician, curator, writer, intern or other art-worker?

Do you travel between different arts-events and contexts nationally or internationally?

Do you know P.A.I.N. and feel the need for change?

Do you want to become an Ambassador of P.A.I.N.?

Ambassadors of P.A.I.N. are raising awareness and changing practices around "disposable" [= avoidable] plastic in the arts. As professionals they use their influence, voice, and working practices to encourage institutions and colleagues to eliminate the use of these plastics. They are ready to do this in overt and subtle ways – via their technical riders and contracts, via conversations and questions, and via the public platforms they already have visibility in. Ambassadors of P.A.I.N. are informed and positive agents of change, equipped with tools and strategies* to spread knowledge, request change and manage conflicts with those who remain plastic-entranced… Ambassadors of P.A.I.N. integrate these ambassadorial duties into their current practice in creative ways, and to the extent that they are able – some do it by stealth, others by charm, and some with full trumpets and sharpened weapons.

*A toolkit for how to de-plastify your [festival / event / theatre / practice] has been developed together with the specialist team who implemented a wide spectrum of innovative and sustainable practices at Santarcangelo Festival, Italy.

Read more at the P.A.I.N. website: paininthearts.info

©Daria Gatti
©Daria Gatti